The scene replays in her mind every time.

She's stranded deep in that cave, enemy shinobi from the Hidden Rock are swarming, ready to finish off a trio of unexpectedly tough Leaf shinobis, and Kakashi, equipped with his newfound Sharingan, stand defiantly against the horde, his hand crackling with the lightning from his new Jutsu. "Get back, Rin!" He shouts at her, right as the group of enemy shinobis leap from their spots, descending upon them like hawks.

She screams at him not to go, not to die, but the noise from his Jutsu block her out, or he knows all too well that backing off is impossible. The masked boy leaps to his fate, aware that his new eye and now-perfected Jutsu still can't hope to save him, and Rin put her hands on her ears, all too aware of his imminent fate, yet unable to comply with his request when she had already lost him.

Then, there's nothing but a flash.

…

Rin awakened from the dream and got up with such swiftness that she very nearly hit her forehead on the roof of the little "room" she was using to sleep in, only avoiding a rather painful collision thanks to her reflexes. Sill, her sudden awakening caused Kakashi, who was standing near a small hole, to practically spin to face her, putting one hand on the handle of his short-sword in case there was danger. The young girl stopped, startled at his speed and reaction, and blinked shortly before folding her arms. "S-sorry, it was just a nightmare." She said, somewhat shyly. Kakashi moved his head and then slowly let go of the sword, sitting with his legs crossed.

The log they were residing in had been hollowed out to make enough room, and some hay had been placed on it to make sleeping an easier task. Rin was initially surprised at Kakashi finding such a convenient hiding/sleeping spot at first, before she remembered how careful he was. He had likely arranged to make a bunch of those all over the Mist country to host them both. There was even enough space for more than two, though unfortunately enough, it had been just the two of them quickly enough.

Rin glanced to the little "room" next to her, leading to the outside. A little door had been placed there, to hide the sleeping ninjas from their hunters, since it would quite be unsafe to just leave a big hole into the structure. Rin's "room" (if it could be called that) was in the middle, the entrance was on the left and Kakashi was on the right, occasionally peering at the window. The rain outside was heavy, as expected by their environment. Rin hadn't been too bothered by it though. If anything, it made it easier for her to sleep, and it contrasted nicely with the… silence in her cell. Kakashi seemed vaguely annoyed by it, peering outside from time to time to look out for hunters. "… Nightmares." He repeated. "I know it probably won't be easy, but you should go back to sleep, Rin, we're going to need all our available strength to cross the country."

"Well…" She shifted a little. The room was a little small though. It wasn't anything too bad thankfully, and she knew better than to criticize Kakashi because of that. After all, hiding places like those weren't mean to be comfortable, and the fact that he had put in some hay was already quite generous of him. "I don't feel that tired." Upon saying this, she raised her hand and clenched it a few times, looking at her palm intensively. He frowned, as if about to say something, but she proved faster for once. "I'm not even kidding, I don't feel like I need to go back to sleep."

"… Was the nightmare that bad?" Rin bit her lips in silence. There was truth to her words, but it was hardly the sole reason for her refusal to sleep. She shook her head timidly, and he sighed a little before looking out again. This made the Nohara worry a little for him: He insisted on her need to conserve some energy, but what about him? He was constantly on the look-out, constantly using that precious eye of his to look for threats, and never allowed himself to lower his guard for even the slightest second. He wasn't even sleeping, it seemed.

"It was a little bad yeah." A brief silence. "Well, it was awful." She eventually admitted. "It's always the same one, too… I should maybe go see a therapist!" Rin attempted to laugh a little to defuse the tension, but Kakashi remained stiff as a board. "Well, it's not like they'd have the time considering all the people they have to greet in the first place." She scratched the top of her head and then the realization hit her shortly before her shoulders deflated. With what what happening to her, she doubted that she'd be seeing a therapist soon.

"Is there something wrong?" Asked Kakashi. Rin hesitated a little.

"Everything since the past week, hehe…" The young chûnin tried to soothe the sarcastic nature of her reply with a sweet smile, and Kakashi cocked his head briefly. "S-sorry." She said. "But, Kakashi, you know that you should…" She looked away and breathed out. "You shouldn't bring me home." She had failed to sway him several times, but yet he was always stubborn, explaining that they'd find a way, though not even he could do anything else but fall silent whenever she asked for a specific way.

She didn't resent him for it. Kakashi wanted to protect her, and would rather die than run her through with his Raikiri. At times too, while he never quite managed to put forth anything tangible, he managed to make his replies sound convincing enough for Rin to hope that, somewhere in Konoha, there existed a scroll with a Jutsu specifically designed to deal with what she was going through, or that they'd whip up a seal capable of containing the monster in no time.

And then she remembered that she wouldn't have the time, and that the Three-Tails would be freed by now. Even if it weren't released in the middle of Konoha, it could still easily cause tremendous damage to the Fire Country, and Konoha's very best would lose their lives containing it. And the doubt and desire to just end her life to suppress the beast's menace would come back. If she ended her life, here and now, then the beast would be out of anyone's grasp for a while and Konoha would not be threatened. Seeing that, she thought of… doing something drastic to ensure that the beast would not arrive at the shores of her country.

But then she remembered that she wanted to live, she was afraid of dying. She couldn't even consider picking up the kunai before visualizing her friends and family, and god knows that she didn't want to inflict yet another trauma upon Kakashi… And, for the sake of him too, she had to live and not waste his sacrifice.

"Weakling." A little voice resonated inside her. "Cowardly little weakling, you're gonna put everyone on trouble again."

"No." Kakashi was as blunt as ever. "But I've thought about it while you were asleep. Do you remember Sensei's wife?"

"How could I forget her?" Despite her grim thoughts, Rin smiled a little while thinking about Kushina, perhaps the only person in existence capable of successfully intimidating the Yellow Flash himself. Still, she had endeared herself to the team, even keeping them both company after the mission at Kannabi Bridge. For all her fired-up demeanor, she was an extraordinarily kind woman. "But…"

"She's a part of the Uzumaki." Kakashi leaned forward a little and put his fist on his chin, to support his head. "They're good at sealing, and she taught Sensei about that art too."

"You mean that sensei…" Rin considered the option. Was Kakashi saying that he could use a stronger seal to keep the Bijuu from breaking out? Would they have a seal to do just that in the first place? But even if they could… Did he even know about their tragic predicament, he had been on a mission when those Hidden Mist troops caught Rin after a particularly confusing battle near the sea, after all, and the war's escalation requested him to be off in the frontline more than ever.

She had hoped he'd eventually arrive, but while Minato would likely be willing to save her, the three-way battle between Kumo, Iwa and Konoha up north of the fire country was supposedly grabbing his attention, and Kiri was using its relative isolation to build up strength and send small shock teams into other countries for various purposes. One such as those had kidnapped her. Troublesome, but it wasn't Minato's job to take them down,

"…" She realized her lengthy pause. "He could…"

"He could find a seal to help." Said Kakashi. "The Uzumaki clan had a lot of those, after all. If we manage to reach him in time, he could…" The young ninja looked down, as if thinking that the very idea he was proposing was absurd. Not that this transpired into his body language or voice, but after all that time she spent on missions with him, she knew when he wasn't confident about a matter. "… It's a shot in the dark, but I will pick every option available before I even consider killing you, and if it comes to it, I may as well check all the other options again."

"Kakashi, I'm…" Rin pondered. Could this work? Their teacher hadn't been there in time to save him, and while he was a deadly shinobi who would, at the very least, be known by countless future generations, he was still a human very much capable of failing. Could he just happen to carry a seal to help her? She found herself somewhat believing that, as a sort of reflex to their days with him as a teacher, where Minato was, more often than not, seen as the one person capable of fixing whatever mess her teammates (and sometimes Rin) had managed to get himself into. It was the equivalent of clinging to the leg of a parent while facing the unknown, but then again, could Kakashi be blamed? Rin wasn't exactly asking him to do something easy to him, and she had her issues with outright killing herself. Could he do it? Not likely. Was she very potentially setting up for a crushing disappointment with the discovery that their particular problem was something that not even their seemingly-almighty teacher could solve? Very likely. But alas, she could only really try to put aside her fear and hope for the best, once more. "I trust you but if he can't…"

"We'll see about that." Kakashi leaned forward. "And we'll do that pretty soon. If you're not tired, then we could try to cross the rest of the distance here and now. It works to our advantage." The youth started to advance. "With the blockade, it'll be harder and harder to disguise ourselves as merchants and escape that way." He nodded to her and she nodded back silently. Just in case an enemy ninja was listening, it could be good to trick them. The actual plan wasn't that much different, though. They'd meet up with a spy from the Leaf, who'd bring them on a vessel close to the coasts. "And it'll give us more time to work on the seal."

"If they receive the scroll." She allowed some of her new-found pessimism to slip into her reply. "It's their land, here, and their trackers are feared for a reason, right? N-not that I'm saying…"

"Some other teams have already made it out." Said Kakashi. "And I've prepared for this. If they intend to chase us, then their own country will turn against them." He glanced at her. "Let's go."

"Wait." Rin sat up. "What about you? You haven't been sleeping." The young girl frowned. "Aren't you exhausted? You've been running across the country preparing and…"

"I'll sleep on the boat." He opened the door outside, and she figured that arguing was pointless. Kakashi checked the surroundings first, briefly lifting his headband to see better, and then motioned for her. Rin stretched her arms one last time and descended first. Kakashi, meanwhile, pulled a few explosive tags out of a pouch on his hip and placed them around the hideout. Once he was done, he walked unto the tree and closed the door but ever so slightly left it open just a little. With some amount of luck, a bunch of overconfident hunters would notice it, assume that their enemies made a rookie mistake, and get punished for it rather promptly but she was hardly holding her breath. Those from the mist were very prudent, after all.

Once he was done, Kakashi leap down next to her and nodded. "Stay close to me." He said, and she could only agree. He then swiped at the area: A rainy, mist-covered forest, apparently devoid of animal life since she couldn't hear anything around her, except for the sound of their feet treading upon the mud or the beating of her own heart. The mist wasn't powered by some Jutsu, but it was still thick enough to prevent one without gifted eyes from seeing much in front of them. For all she knew, just beyond her scope, a dozen shinobis from the Mist were waiting, waiting for one of their prey to make a mistake before swarming them all at once. Kakashi didn't seem to find anything odd though, once again briefly resorting to his Sharingan before putting his headband on it again.

"Let's get going."

…

Their trip had been relatively quiet so far, and they hadn't talked that much. Rin didn't find much to discuss, and Kakashi was busy with some higher matters, such as ensuring that they would not get surprised and killed by some of the most ruthless individuals on this side of the planet. While Rin was perhaps safe from any harm owing to her nature, Kakashi's Sharingan eye made him a valuable target. It's the reason why he alone was in charge of handling Rin's rescue. The other teams would have less shinobis to deal with, since the Mist would send more soldiers the way of Sakumo's son and his unique pupil.

"… How are the other teams doing?" Rin eventually said. It wasn't wise to talk, and she knew it better than anyone, but the isolation back at the facility had really made her yearn for some human contact. Kakashi seemed aware of that but unfortunately, he couldn't quite answer her in full, lest his focus ended up pulled away. And with their circumstances and general job, being distracted for one second could end up catastrophic.

"I don't know. We do not send messages to one another or else they'd catch it." Spoke Kakashi. "We'll figure it out once we're out of here," Rin grumbled a little at her mess-up. Of course, they'd avoid sending messages. "But they should be fine. Kiri's elites groups are dealing with Kumo on their shores, and we know how to avoid the hunters." He held a hand out and then jumped down, prompting the curious young girl to drop next to him. Kakashi gestured up above, and Rin had to squint before she noticed the wires on the trees up above, which prompted her to widen her eyes.

"They-"

"No. I'm not seeing anything." He said. "And if they were using their mist Jutsu, then the mist would be thicker." Rin nodded, her question having been preemptively answered. "But let's get moving quickly." Kakashi waited for Rin and then they both began to jump across the forest, though they now stuck to the ground. The White Fang's son now kept his Sharingan unconcealed, to better detect incoming traps. Rin frowned, but didn't object, though she wondered how long the young jônin could keep it up. While she was certainly the rescued person in that scenario, she'd rather not have Kakashi collapse on her after wasting too much chakra.

Kakashi's Sharingan proved to be efficient at detecting traps, and the youth would gesture whenever a trap appeared. Rin wondered if the ninjas were aware of their path and messing with them, or if they had simply littered their landscape with traps just in case. Ninjas from the land of the mist were probably bestowed with maps or at least general knowledge of where not to go. With nothing to say, to avoid distracting her teammate, Rin simply contemplated her surroundings. The forest of the mist looked pretty close to those near Konoha, but... eerier, owing to the seeming absence of any wildlife. The young medic grimaced, hoping that in all her life, she'd never be forced to step foot unto the country again.

Kakashi stopped eventually and turned around, gesturing twice with his hands. "We're near." It reads. Indeed, there were some faint lights on the horizon, which also meant that the mist was getting weaker. Rin made a similar gesture, indicating that she understood fine. Then, she took a small gourd out of her belt and gave it to the youth. He briefly stared down at it, pulled his mask down, and quickly drank it before his eyes widened. "It's empty." He said. "I should manage the rations better."

"Good thing we're near a lake, heh?" Rin pointed out, with an amused chuckle. Kakashi remained dour, stoically pulling his mask up.

"I'll do it." He said, but Rin pulled her hand up.

"Don't worry, it won't take much time." She quickly kneeled near the lake and filled the gourd with one sweep. They probably wouldn't need it, but Rin felt like contributing instead of letting Kakashi do all the work. And while she had done her job quickly, she couldn't help but stare at the surface of the lake itself, either out of hidden vanity or because she hadn't seen her face for a long while.

Her purple markings were gone, her skin was pale, one wouldn't need a magical eye to see the bags under her eyes… Rin winced and prepared to simply depart, but then the rippling water slowly changed her portrait. Slowly but surely, she could see her face be affected by the small waves of the lake, catching her attention and delaying her return to Kakashi. Under her very eyes, her features began to change. Her pale skin grew whiter and paler until it looked like chalk, her tired eyes began to look more and more like empty slits and her mouth twisted into a thin red line, messy brown hair became white and slicked backward and red marks, akin to waves, appeared on her cheek.

The chûnin's eyes widened slowly, but it was only up until the part where the hidden mist's symbol appeared that she realized what she had gotten herself into. She immediately tried to withdraw but, with much fracas, a hand shot out of the water, wrapping itself around her throat before she could even react. In front of her, emerging out of the water, a shinobi in full armor was present. He chuckled sinisterly as Rin struggled in his grasp. Had Rin tried to pay a closer look, she would've noticed that only his top half was emerging out of the water, while the rest seemed to be almost fused to the lake itself.

"Got you!" .With this childish exclamation, the attacker moved to grab the handle of the sword strapped to his back but Kakashi interrupted him, appearing next to Rin and slashing the ninja in half. Rin winced, excepting for the odd shinobi to be cut in half, but while he was indeed slashed by the blade, the man did not let go, and his upper body briefly took the consistency of water, allowing the sword to pass through the enemy without harming him.. "You're wasting your time!" He signaled to the man with the Sharingan. Identifying his enemy, Kakashi decided to stab at the fist holding his friend, forcing the ninja to "liquefy" his limb to avoid being stabbed. This freed Rin and she immediately backed off, angering the ninja, who decided to take some distance before pointing two fingers at the chûnin.

Kakashi proved thankfully faster. Grabbing his kunai, he used his raikiri to surround it in lightning and threw it at the enemy ninja. Proving too slow to react in time, the man was hit and his ability failed to protect him: The kunai struck, and the shinobi screamed before melting in a grey puddle, spreading across the lake. Rin stared in horror, grasping her neck and breathing in, while Kakashi turned around and picked her up by the hand. "Are you alright?" He asked. She'd ask him just what happened, but a few shapes emerged in the mist. "We're going to need to run, follow me!" Rin glanced at the puddle one last time, steeled herself, and just like that both were off. As usual, Kakashi led, fully using his Sharingan to perceive his foes. Not all their foes were chasing them: Some arrived from below, or above, and some even directly ran at them, hoping to herd them into another direction. About three ninjas were running right at the prodigy from forward, while several more were heading for the other directions bar the west. The prodigy, rather boldly, decided not to walk into a trap and drew his sword before speeding forth, prompting Rin to accelerate her pace.

With speed almost comparable to their master, Kakashi appeared past the first hunter and performed a masterful slash of his sword, using a type of swordsmanship (supposedly) unique to the Hidden Cloud to swiftly cut both his enemies in half. The third didn't appear to care, only leaping towards the defenseless Rin to seize her, but he found himself short a lower body when Kakashi's sword carved straight through him, cutting through his (light as it was) armor as if it were mere butter. Rin's eyes widened but hurried on, while the three hunters fell to the grass below. "Amazing!" The young woman glanced at her teammate's back, and despite everything, some envy crept up a little. Was she going to be his damsel in distress? She had made peace with their difference in talent, but her sense of pride and general caring for the young man demanded that she help him, instead of staying in his shadow.

When yet another enemy emerged out of the mist, hanging above them, Rin saw her occasion, hoping that the time spent in isolation hadn't affected her yet. To her agreeable surprise, the hand seals came off almost naturally, and the chakra built up in her chest before going up. "Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" The youth spat a ball-shaped projectile at high speed, seemingly taking the hunter by surprise with her willingness to fight back. Stuck in mid-air and unable to call on a Jutsu in time, the masked assassin was hit full force and sent flying uncontrollably right back into the mist. Seeing her success, the youth pumped her fist. "Yes!"

"Good work!" Kakashi spoke quickly, having noticed her attack. Around them, the hunters were still chasing, but the two shinobis and willingness to fight back while escaping seemed to confuse them. Or, as Rin thought, they were barely putting up a challenge to try to get them to head back to Konoha. This worried her a little, but her teammate did not dwell on it, quickly nodding down and holding up his hand. After two seconds, he swung his hand down and leaped down instead of forward. Rin followed suit, adapting to his trajectory, and wasn't even surprised to see the ground under Kakashi's feet make way for a tiny tunnel that quickly swallowed the two, though it was barely big enough for the hunters to fit in.

"Good." He commented. Both he and Rin slid a little on the tunnel and the run continued. Seeing that they'd be disadvantaged, the hunters gave up on chasing and tried to go for a different tactic: Not two seconds after their entrance into the tunnel, a strong stream of water poured in, quickly threatening to overtake the rather narrow structure. This didn't seem to worry Kakashi, who motioned to the left and slammed his shoulder through another trap door. Both youths emerged in another tunnel, but heading upstairs, somewhat diminishing the threat of the rising water as both youths made their way up top and burst out of the ground. Luckily, Kakashi had gone through some hoops to ensure that the hunters wouldn't find this particular exit, and no disagreeable surprises were waiting for them. A few seconds after their dynamic exit, water poured out of the hole. The white-haired youth no longer had reason to care for it though and on the way to the next tree branch, he quickly cut a string in two with a swing of his sword. In the distance, beyond the trees, several small explosions pierced the veil of the mist.

The two ninjas from Konoha didn't take to the branches though, but they could bet that traps had been planted in the grass as well. Instead, they effortlessly jumped from trunk to trunk, needing only a slight nod or a gesture to understand the other. The lights got closer and closer, and Rin dared to imagine that she still had something of a future ahead of her. Even Kakashi, perhaps mistakenly, glanced back. His eyes, that had been serious for the entire trip, had a casual glint of "told you so" in them.

Rin smiled.

Then a shadow fell over her face and her eyes widened in panic. "Kakashi!" To his credit, the youth immediately leaped to the side instead of blindly charging into whatever was in front of him, and this saved him from ramming into yet another white-haired, masked lunatic. The woman (going by the hair), who had one hand held out, tilted her head when Kakashi charged his raikiri into yet another knife and hurled it at her. Seeing what he was doing, the inhabitant of the mist tilted her head to the left, letting the kunai sail past through a tree, and moved her leg to kick at him. While tired from his acrobatic, Kakashi wasn't weakened enough not to react to such a simple blow, and he took a stance, intending to grab and quickly twist the leg. It imploded into water on impact though, causing Kakashi to reflexively close his eyes and move back. This gave the elite hunter more than enough time to close the hand she had meant to use to seemingly capture him, and use it to punch him in the face, hurling him out of the wood and into the open!

Luckily, the ninja had been smart enough to raise his arms just in case, and the armor on his forearm dampened the blow somewhat. Rin leaped out of the woods to join him, while the mysterious Hozuki opted to stay in the woods, staring at them and she held her hands out, pointing two fingers at each before firing some fast water projectiles right at them. "Get behind me!" Kakashi decided to go in front of Rin, swinging his sword to deflect the projectile aimed at her, and dodging his own. Without needing to be told to do so, Rin leaped aside and so did Kakashi, dodging the projectiles sent their way. They were wild, but inaccurate when it came to Rin, though Kakashi was currently partaking in acrobatics to avoid getting a punctured leg.

From what Rin gathered, they were in an open, rock-filled area, with a small lake peering through the mist. At the edge of her vision, she could spot countless shadows beginning to emerge out of the forest. Her jônin friend didn't seem concerned though. Drawing a smoke pellet out of a pouch, he immediately threw it down, covering the two in smoke. Presumably, his Sharingan would prevent them from being blinded by the smoke.

"Shadow clones!" Kakashi created about two clones of his, and one of them then proceeded to perform a simple Jutsu to transform into Rin. The real deal, however, glanced at her rescuer, noticing his ragged breathing: Firing two Raikiris and keeping his Sharingan active was tense on his chakra reserves, so using two shadow clones… Still, she knew that he wouldn't stop now, so she let him send the clones in the direction and both then followed suit, as a way to confuse the hunters. While they stuck together, for the most part, the two groups began to separate, each heading in their direction. Kakashi's gesture, though, indicated that they were likely going to head into yet another small tunnel, in a bid to outrun their persistent foes. As for the clones, they were boundlessly heading into their dooms, but still did their best to dodge techniques, making it difficult to tell which was which.

"Let-" Before he could even complete his sentence, light illuminated their surroundings and the tunnel went up in flames, completely engulfed by a rather potent explosion, its mere shockwave being enough to knock the two young shinobis off their feet and send them sprawling to the ground, disoriented. This caused the clones to glance back in surprise, distracting them for one second. And this short window was all that a random hunter needed to throw six sharps needles in their legs, hitting the clones and causing them to vanish.

"No…" Kakashi's stupor got him to be distracted too, long enough for the same hunter to jab some needles at him from afar. Recovering quickly, Rin threw her arm in front of him, letting the projectiles pierce through her flesh, only letting out a gasp of pain and surprise when the pain from the attack proved to be above what she had anticipated, causing the chûnin to fall to her knee. "Rin!"

"I'm fine!" Rin lied. She almost moved to take them off but remembered that the bleeding would be worse if she did so. Kakashi came to a similar conclusion, and just cut the needles in half. "Just run, Kakashi!" She almost pleaded. Meanwhile, out of the fire, another Hunter-nin emerged. This one's mask was slightly more expressive than the others, bearing a wide deranged "grin" on her black mask. It must've been the leader, since the other ninjas stopped their approach upon her arrival. She also wore a heavy black cloak over her body, making it impossible to tell what kind of weapons she was wielding, or what she even looked like. Her hair was as dark as the rest of the ensemble, but cut short.

"Your eye's ours, ninja." She muttered. "The girl will go if you surrender and accept your fate. She'll be returned to your village safely. We have no further use for her."

"I'll have to decline." Kakashi held his sword out. "I know what you're up to, and I won't give this Sharingan away." In answer to his defiance, the masked kunoichi chuckled a little, looked down, and shook her head before taking three steps forwards, causing the Leaf ninjas to back off. All around them, the hunters left the forest to walk into the cove, or simply emerged out of its lake. A few simply emerged out of the mist and used chakra to walk on water, but some others emerged out of the lake, like the hunter from earlier.

"Well, it doesn't matter. We'll get that Sharingan and the girl will escape… But the death of her savior will have left her too traumatized and incoherent to make sense, and the officials in Konoha will ignore her warnings until it's too late."

Rin frowned intensely and finally managed to build up the resolve to grab a kunai out of her pouch. The hunter tilted her head, perhaps thinking that the chûnin was about to attack her, but didn't particularly react when Rin put the sharp weapon straight to her own throat. "If I die, then this beast inside of me will succumb too, and you won't get to the village!" The white-haired youth turned around in shock.

"Rin, don't!"

"Oh-oh?" The woman took some more steps forwards. "Well, how can I stop you when you are protected by the hero of the Sharingan himself? Do so."

Kakashi was already wheeling around to try to stop her, and Rin didn't have much time. She thought of her parents, her teammate, her fallen friend, the love of her life, and paid said love a final look. "I'm sorry, Kakashi!" Not enough time to say what she would've wanted to say to him, but it was all or nothing. Rin held her hand out and jammed the kunai…

…Or would've done so if her hand didn't freeze up all of a sudden, preventing her from doing so. Looking at her surroundings, there had been no restraint placed on her, and Kakashi only managed to grab her hand about one second after it had stopped. "We'll escape together, Rin!" He said. "There's no need to kill yourself! I'll… I'll get you a way out, and Minato…" A shrill laugh interrupted the both of them, and the hunter approached a bit more.

"So much for that "Will of Fire" that you Konoha ninjas live by." She moved a gloved hand to her collar and pressed on a little button on it. The cloth promptly fell off her, revealing garb more typical of a regular hunter, consisting of a pinstriped outfit with a blue haori and a red sash wrapped around the waist. More important than that though, she had a long sword, which she immediately drew. "I'll take your eye, and the girl will go to Konoha regardless of her intentions." As she spoke, a few of her companions joined her.

The scene replays in her mind.

She's stranded alone in enemy territory, enemy shinobis from the Hidden Mist are swarming, ready to finish off a duo of Leaf shinobis, and Kakashi, equipped with his Sharingan, stand defiantly against the horde, his hand crackling with the lightning of his emblematic Jutsu. "Run, Rin! I'll hold them off!" He shouts at her, right as the enemy shinobis run at them, swarming like monsters out of the mist.

She screams at him to go, and not to die for her sake, but the noise from the Jutsu blocks her out. This time, though, she realizes that even if she escapes, then the hunters will catch her and use some genjutsu to wipe her memories again. Kakashi has to live, and so does Konoha… but not her, not now that she has that beast inside her. But if her own hand cannot slay her, then perhaps…

Rin closed her eye, hoping that he'd forgive her (or himself) and prepared to do what must be done. She thought of everyone again but does not allow a second of hesitation to potentially claim her this time. Preparing to jump, she could only ponder on meeting him in the afterlife… If there is one, that is, though she was going to find that out soon enough.

Then, a yellow flash ended it all, bursting into the scene before Rin could even begin to jump, and Kakashi himself is forced to cancel his Raikiri, seemingly leaving him wide open to his enemies. However, both youths know what the yellow flash means, and both know that they don't need to care about their enemies anymore: By the time their eyes re-opens, the attacking hunters are left sprawled on the floor, unconscious, with only their leader still hanging on. A flash of lightning briefly revealed that her mask had been shattered, revealing her rather terrified facial expression seconds before she joins her teammates.

By that point though, they both didn't care much for her. Both were too busy peering at the golden-haired ninja who had saved them both, and completely changed their fortunes in a single second. Despite bursting into the scene very recently, the elite ninja's analyzing skills allowed him to quickly identify the situation, and he turned around to smile at his two students. "Looks like I made it in time." He quipped. "I've been briefed about everything."

"Sensei!" Rin choked up a little, struggling not to cry in joy. "How… how did you…" Minato pointed to a marking on Kakashi's forearm armor.

"I put it on him in case he'd need help. In hindsight, I should've done the same for you." He said, regretfully. "I've taken measures to help you, Rin, but I'm going to have to take care of these guys." He turned around and glared at the hunters, who likely felt very much out of luck. Their silent, intimidating behavior had fallen to the wayside, and those who weren't repeating Minato's moniker over and over in shock were, wisely, running for the hills, either by merging into the lake or using their legs.

Kakashi turned to face Rin, perhaps preparing to inform her that he was right, but he stopped, surprised at the sight of the chûnin bawling her eyes out in joy. He had made it in time. "Thank you… thank you…" She managed to spell out, barely being able to say anything because of the tears. Minato smiled for a second or two and held his two hands out, holding his trusty kunai.

"Give me three seconds."

Then, there was nothing but a flash.

…

A/N: Hey! Welcome to this fic! I don't know what to say, but I hope that you'll enjoy reading it! The idea of a what-if where Rin survives has always intrigued me, and I guess it had intrigued me enough to write a fic about it!

This is what I've been working on for a little while. I plan to do a chapter every three weeks, or maybe a month, but either way, I hope that you'll find this to be an enjoyable read! I'm looking forward to reviews and the likes, and I hope that you guys will enjoy the story, though of course, if there's any criticism to share, I appreciate it! I love reviews!

What will happen in a world such as this? What consequences will there be? I guess we'll see that next month!

See ya later!